Roisin Tapponi Fashion Blogger: Bath Vintage

Fashion is nothing without style – vintage is not anything without a story. Walking into a quaint vintage store on the corner of a cobblestoned street, spying a 1930 Dior blouse concealed between mink coats like a forgotten secret, sending off a musky scent as the material slips between your fingers and a story of the original wearer skims your imagination – that is what vintage is about. Vintage is presence while acting; acrylics while painting, and the foam on top of the cappuccino, the hidden joy, and your own Neverland of lost time; making the wearer feel vintage in age.

You feel special wearing vintage, like you are taking on the role of a forgotten character or, with the slip on of an original Vivienne Westwood punk t-shirt, filling the mind with knowledge of the Descendants or Fugazi; which you never knew existed.

Bath has a grasp on the vintage world with the monthly Vintage Fashion Fair, where you start to feel like an extra in Grease, and numerous vintage shops such as Vintage to Vogue and The Yellow Shop.

Vintage is like couture – if we didn’t exemplify appreciation it could die out, so Bath hangs on to fashionable tradition like no other city I have visited.

Why does everyone want to wear vintage? It’s different; that is why – young people (and older) are continuously attempting to stand out from the crowd. Yes, about 50% of a fashionable equation would consist of fashion knowledge and born-with style but the other 50% is to scout, to find unique, individual pieces that no-one has yet discovered.

More ‘mainstream’ stores such as Urban Outfitters are welcoming in vintage and, with this season’s trend of prints; you need not look further than a vintage store.

2 comments

Do you not believe retro? Retro flourished in the 70s and, to a fashionable mind, isn't even comparable to the 50s. The 50s were Katherine Hepburn, Salvatore Ferragamo, Barbie - you could hardly describe those 50s icons as retro could you? And WW2 isn't included in fashion history - all the silk was used to make parachutes and the wool to supply military uniforms. It was a hard time for fashionable women, though not as hard for the soldiers who fought and I'm sure rickets have nothing to do with the vintage fashion above! Thanks for your interest:)

What? Grease was a 70's parody of the 50's, hardly vintage I think. I am a fan of Art Deco, but I don't think I would like to live in those times. Lots of rickets, and WW2 still to come. I'll give it a miss if it's all the same to you.